Breakdown of Rikollinen pidätettiin ja kuulusteltiin.
ja
and
rikollinen
criminal
pidättää
to arrest
kuulustella
to interrogate
Questions & Answers about Rikollinen pidätettiin ja kuulusteltiin.
How is the passive past formed for pidätettiin?
The verb is pidättää (to arrest), which is a verb type 1. To form the passive past for type 1 verbs, you take the weak stem (pidätä-) and add -ettiin. Notice how the strong double tt changes to a weak single t because of consonant gradation.
Why does kuulusteltiin end in -tiin instead of -ettiin like the first verb?
The verb kuulustella (to interrogate) is a type 3 verb. For verbs in types 2 through 6, the passive past is simpler than type 1: you find the consonant stem by dropping the infinitive ending (here, dropping the -la leaves kuulustel-) and simply add -tiin.
Why is the word rikollinen in the basic nominative case here instead of an object case?
In Finnish passive sentences, the total object (the person or thing the action is fully done to) is put in the basic nominative case rather than the genitive-accusative case. Even though the criminal is the target of the action, the passive voice requires this basic dictionary form.
Does the word rikollinen come from another word?
Yes, it is derived from the noun rikos (a crime). The ending -llinen is often added to nouns to create adjectives or new nouns describing a person, so rikollinen literally means someone associated with a crime.
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